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Category: Email Marketing

It’s that time when we marketers ponder about our objectives and strategies for the New Year. After two decades of experience in the industry, I haven’t seen marketing communications splinter into so many different channels, especially in the social media space.

But having more channels doesn’t necessarily make things easier for marketers.

The Business Marketing Association and Forrester Inc noted anxiety among marketers in research presented at the BMA’s annual conference this year. Their study found that, “97% of b2b marketers are doing things they have never done before as part of marketing, and 34% of senior marketers feel ‘overwhelmed’ by change.”

If you feel snowed under and unsure about your marketing direction, have a look at some of the trends and predictions for the New Year. It might deliver the right guidance on where to aim your marketing arrows in 2014 – or at least give you a little time to prepare.

For my own forecasting, I predict a cooling of social media’s cool factor. Its popularity won’t sink, but companies will achieve a better understanding of where social media excels and where it doesn’t. It’s inevitable that this marketing channel would start to mature, like all others before it.

I expect to see the fast emergence of new players within social media, giving pioneers like Facebook and Twitter a run for their money. Mobile marketing will become more integrated into ecommerce and content marketing.

What about you? Where do you think marketing is headed in 2014? Please share your thoughts.

Ezines, or e-newsletters, are ranked number 3 in popularity for content channels as published in the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends. In the realm of email content, the ezine is still the main player.

Ideally, you should associate your ezine with the face of your brand. This could be the CEO, other C-level executive, or, for smaller organizations, the company owner. Whomever you choose, he or she should be the consistent voice of your ezine.

Why Does It Matter?

Socialmedia Today published results of a survey that revealed…

“68.7% of respondents believe that C-suite social media engagement enhances the perception that a brand is honest and trustworthy, and 83.9% believe that CEO social media engagement is an effective tool to increase brand loyalty.”

While ezines don’t fall under the social media umbrella, the research shows that content with a face likely delivers improved customer engagement and response. The ezine is a more personal marketing channel than social media, so it provides a great opportunity to apply this persona branding technique.

Real World Examples

I helped a client develop a successful monthly ezine that followed this approach — combining useful content, a low key sales approach, and a personal point of view. His product was aimed at health-conscious consumers, but you could adopt this format for a variety of products in the B2B or B2C sector.

The first item to appear in my client’s ezine was an article about a specific health topic, usually a vitamin, mineral or herb. There was no direct selling of a product in the article, just interesting and valuable information, such as this excerpt on the importance of probiotics:

EXAMPLE – 1A

After the article my client would comment about its content and often included another piece of interesting information or little-known benefit. He would then casually introduce his health product…

EXAMPLE – 1B

Here’s another article from a different edition of the ezine:

EXAMPLE – 2A

And here’s his follow-up text:

EXAMPLE-2B

Why did he have success with this style of ezine? His readers appreciated the fact that he was providing useful information up front rather than an immediate sales pitch. The tone is personal, from one health-conscious person to another, and the product benefits are delivered in a matter-of-fact way.Additional Resource: